Thursday, February 22, 2007

The Name Game

From the very beginning, I haven't been happy with the title of my 5th book in the Nirvana series.

I'd settled on Depth Charge, but it just didn't feel right - even though I'm over 45,000 words in ...

The plot of this book is based on local government corruption centred on the closure of a swimming pool.

But the theme is around blood relations - as opposed to the alternative family of the Nirvana Housing Co-op.
I wanted a title that somehow reflected both these aspects.

See?
Depth Charge ... doesn't do it, does it?

But all the others I came up with either didn't feel right or had recently been used.

In the fertile space inside my head where I've been nestling for the past couple of weeks, I came up with the answer yesterday.

So - my new book will be called ...

... The Gene Pool.

It's great! It says it all and I feel really good with it.

According to silly fluff it scores a mere 26.3% chance of being a bestseller as opposed to Depth Charge's slightly more respectable 35.9%

But I don't care - cos I likes it!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Debi, that's perfect! So much more evocative than your originally proposed title.
Congratulations on the inspiration.
All the best!

pundy said...

Brilliant title.

Unknown said...

I really like that, Debi. I think it is so important to feel comfortable with your title.
It only proves that a title doesn't have to be the pivotal thing and can evolve along the way - shame we can't do that with naming children!
It would interesting to know what comes first with other writers.

Marie said...

I think it's a great title.

I'm having the same problem with my novel-in-progress. The working title is Endless Night, but I don't like it. I want something original. I'm thinking hard about a new title, though I don't want to think about it too much as I'm only on the second draft. I'm sure a title will come to me.

Confucious Trevaskis said...

Good title Debi,cleverly done!!

As for the score.......
You won't be interested to know that Surely Bollocks scored 79.6 or 61.1%, depending on whether the the title is figurative or literal...couldn't decide....but you may want to rethink....

How about Gene Bollocks or Surely Pool, or Surely Gene Bollocks, no, sounds too much like Shirley Valentine.........

What am I on about here.....no idea, so I'll go now.............

Confucious Trevaskis said...

Glad your ears are returning by the way.................

Debi said...

Or Surely Gene Pitney? Or Denim Genes? Or I'm a Gene-ius?

Nah - I'm a happy little writer with The Gene Pool and feel buoyed up by your positive response. Thanks!

So obvious - yet so elusive for so long ...

S. Kearney said...

Yes, The Gene Pool has a certain intrigue about it, whereas Depth Charge sounded liked a dam busters, war book! :)

Debi said...

Ha! Can you imagine what one of those sorts of books would be like if I'd written it? Now there's a thought ...

Meloney Lemon said...

Gene Pool is a really punchy title. I wonder if the work in progress is now positively affected by it.

Debi said...

Gissa chance, Mel!